A country girl goes to the big city where she faces the lures of glamor and temptation mingled with the wiles and snares of deceit. All this could become ruinous or could be overcome by hard work and attention to the values which motivate good choices.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

On my first glance at More Than A
Ticket I was thrilled to see Chapter one, A Young Girl from Animas Valley.
I love coming home remembering riding the old school bus an extra hour
to spend the night or weekend with you. Sometimes your mother was
helping us sew matching garments. It was a time when education,
honesty and integrity was uppermost. Our mothers worked untiringly to
provide nutritious meals and a clean inviting home, requiring of us the
preparation of table, set carefully with a clean ironed white cloth. We
had the privilege of contributing to family life - - the industry of
the home. I love to remember sitting around the table enjoying the
wonderful homemade bread, meat and vegetables, even apple pie!! Don't
forget the conversation and laughter, and the fun we had!

Our
hardworking fathers, whose word was as binding of a contract,
exemplified honesty and integrity; and expected the same in us,
requiring respect and courtesy. I love to remember our brothers coming
in with the white foamy fresh milk and working alongside our fathers.

On Saturday when we sewed or you did the mountain of ironing, we could always take a little time to play the piano and sing.

My
hope as I have read your book more than once is that today’s generation
could see the worth of a work ethic. It was your background that made
it possible. “Get up sister and make something of yourself!” and you
did.

Love,

Carol

And that is the way it was in days gone by; work, work and then play before the sun goes down. We did not have a television, only a radio to listen to the western music as we made up the dance steps which the kids today think are new. No, we made them up in those country kitchens as we danced our lives away. The memories touch my heart in a way which only the good ole western music can trigger. Carol and I were cheerleaders together as we used our creative words to yell as our basketball team would win their games and sometimes "not."

The good looking, tall one on the back row is C.L. Hoskins.

Chapter One

A Young
Girl from Animas Valley

I grew
up on a ranch in Animas Valley in southern New Mexico with my

brother,
Charles Leslie, or C. L. for short. I was born in 1935 in Deming,

New
Mexico, in the midst of the Great Depression, the same year that
Franklin

Delano
Roosevelt signed off on the Social Security Act. We were poor

of
means, but I didn’t know it at the time, and I don’t remember
ever going

hungry.
We had little, but that was how things were for everyone we knew.

My wise
parents, Al and Edna, instilled in me the values of honesty and hard

work.
They taught me the importance of staying clean, keeping out of debt,

being a
good citizen, respecting the flag, appreciating America, and minding